According to reports, the Chinese company Semiconductional Corporation (SMIC), the largest semiconductor manufacturer in the country, dominated the production of chips according to a 5 -nanometer process without using extreme ultraviolet lithography technology (EUV). This breakthrough can significantly change the view of the world semiconductor industry. About it reports Gizmochina broadcast.
Instead of EUV SMIC, it is claimed that the old installations of deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) are obtained by applying a highly complex process (self -aligned four patterns, saqp), known as the self -given four -fold formation.
This technological achievement, which was detailed in a series of semiconductor analyst William Huo in Social Network X (Twitter), is not only technical, but also important geopolitical importance. Over the years, the industry admitted that an extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography produced only by the ASML Dutch company was absolutely necessary for chip production according to 5 nm and sub -norms. Because of the export restrictions imposed by the US and its allies, which deprived the access to EUV systems, most of the analysts believed that China’s ambitions in the field of advanced chips would stand at 7 nm.
However, SMIC continued to operate using the veil technologies and actually “squeeze” the maximum of the existing equipment. According to Hou, this required a large number of lithographs and abrasion phases to be fulfilled, especially using SAQP to simulate the EUV accuracy. This method is more slow, more sensitive to errors and more expensive than EUV, but it turned out to be efficient.
The result was a 5 Nm chip that has already been reported in devices such as Huawei Mate 60 smartphone, which works in the Kirin 9000S processor.
Therefore, SMIC, apparently, showed the ability to achieve advanced process standards, although there is no access to basic modern equipment, which is an important step for the Chinese semiconductor industry.
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Source: Gazeta
Jackson Ruhl is a tech and sci-fi expert, who writes for “Social Bites”. He brings his readers the latest news and developments from the world of technology and science fiction.